An open collection of baseball's little-known records and curiosities.

"He would have been among the league leaders in batting average for a majority of the season had he had enough plate appearances." -- 2008 St. Louis Cardinals Media Guide about non-roster invitee Mark Johnson

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Never Attempting a Stolen Base

Rickey Henderson is revered as the single-season and career stolen base king. Maury Wills, Lou Brock and Vince Coleman all were famous for their stolen base prowess. Heck, Herb Washington made a career out of it. But not every player in baseball history has been blessed with stolen base speed and/or instincts. Cecil Fielder took his time swiping even his first bag. But you can't say Cecil didn't try; he was caught stealing five times before his first steal.

Here's the position players with the most plate appearances who never recorded a stolen base [Note: SB records unavailable prior to 1883]:

Russ Nixon, 2714

Aaron Robinson, 2189

Johnny Estrada, 2086

Al Ferrara, 1573

Ryan Howard, 1542

Jason Phillips, 1537

Matt Lecroy, 1519

Jose Morales, 1428

Bob Schmidt, 1426

Javier Valentin, 1407

Four players on that list have played so far this year, and Matt Lecroy was in the majors as recently as 2006. Now, let's spice it up a little and look for the positions players who amassed the most plate appearances while never stealing a base or being caught stealing. [Note: The NL did not keep CS records until 1951, with a brief exception from 1915-1916. The AL has kept CS records since 1914 with 1917-1919 excepted. I have used only the data from when both leagues kept records, i.e., 1951-present. Blame the NL's statisticians if this upsets you.]

Johnny Estrada, 2086

Javier Valentin, 1407

Chuck Essegian, 1140

Dave Ross, 1078

Jerry Narron, 926

Sal Butera, 911

Doug Camilli, 836

Robert Machado, 694

Billy Ashley, 688

Jim Price, 676

Again, three of the players on this list are currently active, so it's subject to change. However, Johnny Estrada is far ahead of the pack. Perhaps not coincidentally, the three active players are all catchers. Traditionally the slowest players in baseball, let's see what happens when we cut them out of the list.

First, your top 10 non-catcher position players to never steal a base:

Al Ferrara, 1573

Ryan Howard, 1542

Richie Scheinblum, 1392

Coco Laboy, 1374

Adrian Gonzalez, 1353

Jeff Hamilton, 1273

Sam Horn, 1185

Chuck Essegian, 1140

Dan Johnson, 1123

Manny Jimenez, 1116

Howard, Gonzalez and Johnson are currently active. Here's the top 10 non-catcher position players with 0 SB and 0 CS:

Chuck Essegian, 1140

Billy Ashley, 688

Kevin Kouzmanoff, 413

Damon Minor, 334

Mario Ramirez, 333

Randy Johnson, 296 (the early-80's DH)

Rich Severson, 293

Bobby Etheridge, 281

Willis Otanez, 231

Jack Pierce, 225

Kouzmanoff is the only active player on the list, though Billy Butler is trying hard to join with 199 PA in his young career.

Now you know more than you ever wished to about the base-cloggers among big leaguers.